Unbeknown to most voters, the federal budget deficit has been dropping like a stone, plummeting to its lowest level since 2009, according to recently released data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Depending on whom you ask, this rapid plunge may or may not be good news for our economy. But amongst the deficit scare-mongers that populate Washington, D.C., this news may have created its first high-profile casualty.

Ending with a faint whimper rather than a bang, the Comeback America Initiative (CAI), founded by former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker and dedicated to getting America's fiscal house in order, abruptly closed up shop Sept. 20. In an e-mail to his followers, Mr. Walker said his organization was discontinuing operations so he could "spend some time with my family and consider future options."

What happened to CAI?

Much like the Syrian war fever that recently subsided on Capitol Hill, it was only a couple of years ago that Congress was gripped by doomsday scenarios about the threat to our country from mushrooming budget deficits and unsustainable debt "as far as the eye can see." One of the most prominent Cassandras was Mr. Walker, a Bridgeport resident and -- until Linda McMahon with her millions came along -- widely touted as a potential GOP Senate candidate in 2012.

It may seem like ancient history now, but it was the drumbeat of alarmist prognostications from the likes of Mr. Walker, CEO of CAI, and the duo of Simpson-Bowles that led Congressmen from both sides of the aisle to warn their constituents that our economy was going to hell in a handbasket unless the debt and deficit dragons were slain. To put our house in order, Mr. Walker and his confreres had their sacrificial lambs all lined up: repealing the Affordable Care Act, block-granting Medicaid, raising taxes on Americans just above the poverty line, and further means-testing entitlements.

Even today, an outfit calling itself Campaign to Fix the Debt, consisting of business and financial elites, is sounding the warning that any debt ceiling agreement reached by Congress must include steep cuts to entitlement programs, and deficit-increasing reductions to Obamacare.

It should be no surprise that CAI came a cropper. After all, Walker's proposed remedies for conquering the deficit displayed a level of political cluelessness and blindness to economic reality. In addition to being wildly unpopular, these remedies took for granted estimates of skyrocketing budget deficits that have proved to be dead wrong. Indeed, in addition to plummeting deficits, CBO's long-term budget projections don't show crisis levels of debt, even looking out for the next 25 years. That's not to say we don't face fiscal challenges. But it certainly represents a repudiation of the "sky is falling" debt and deficit alarmism that Mr. Walker's now defunct outfit irresponsibly peddled for years. The consequence of this obsession was that it dominated -- and distorted -- policy discussions for the past few years, with far too much emphasis paid to (now shrinking) deficits and not enough attention to (sluggish) jobs and growth.

The skewed nature of the debate in Washington had another truly pernicious effect: it allowed Mr. Walker's mentor and benefactor, wealthy, anti-government conservative Pete Peterson, to frighten Americans into thinking that unless seniors gave up their "generous" Social Security and Medicare benefits, their grandchildren would be doomed. And this kind of irresponsible fear-mongering still haunts some of the "serious" policy discussions heard today in Washington, D.C.

There was no secret to this manufactured obsession. It was President Reagan's budget chief David Stockman who said years ago: "The purpose of ginning up the Social Security crisis was to permit the politicians to make it look like they are doing something for the beneficiary population when they are doing something to it, which they normally would not have the courage to undertake."

In spite of the failure of Mr. Walker's attempts to repeal Obamacare, block grant Medicaid, and raise taxes on the poor (not for want of trying), the deficit has, as noted, fallen dramatically. Perhaps it is time for Walker and his fellow deficit scolds to publicly acknowledge the error of their ways, but I wouldn't count on it.